The invention lies in the field of household appliances. The invention relates to a cooktop appliance.
A cooktop is disclosed in German Published, Non-Prosecuted Patent Application DE 44 24 847 A1. The cooktop has transparent surface regions of glass and/or glass ceramic, and the display is presented through the glass and/or the glass ceramic. The device for displaying information on cooktop operating states has a fastening part that is securely connected to the glass or the glass ceramic by adhesive bonding. A least one display unit adapted to the fastening part can be connected to the fastening part. Furthermore, the fastening part has receiving devices, into which individually shaped text and/or symbol masks, for example, are snap-fitted. A particular disadvantage of this device is that the bonding technique for securing the fastening part for the display symbol masks is complex due to the temperatures and the mechanical loads occurring.
A further cooktop is disclosed in German Utility Model G 87 01 926 U. The display elements essentially include two components. First, a string of light-emitting diodes are disposed underneath the cooktop panel. Second, a printed inscription is applied to the surface of the cooktop panel. The inscription shows, for example, an ascending numerical sequence from 1 to 10. The corresponding light-emitting diode is disposed alongside or at a distance from the Arabic number that corresponds to the cooking stage set on the cooktop operating element that is active. A particular disadvantage of this cooktop is that the exact and uniform spatial alignment of a light-emitting diode to its associated informational inscription or number has to be ensured. In practice, ensuring the alignment is complex due to assembly and/or production tolerances.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a cooktop with display elements that overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and that eliminates the disadvantages of the generic cooktops.
With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a cooktop, including a printed circuit board having an upper side and operating elements on the upper side, a glass-ceramic cooking area having a plurality of cooking locations, and display elements each having an illuminator assigned to one of the operating elements, disposed underneath the glass-ceramic cooking area, and secured on and in contact with the upper side of the printed-circuit board, and a display-symbol mask secured on the illuminator and disposed between the glass-ceramic cooking area and the illuminator, such that when the illuminator is in operation, a display symbol corresponding to the display-symbol mask is seen through the glass-ceramic cooking area when viewed from above the glass-ceramic cooking area.
The invention makes possible, in particular, low-cost pre-assembly and pre-testing of the printed-circuit module with a contacted illuminator, display symbol mask secured on it, and an operating element. The exact spatial configuration between the operating and display elements disposed on the printed-circuit board and the display symbol mask is ensured in a low-cost way.
According to a preferred embodiment, no printed display-symbol inscription is provided on the surface of the glass-ceramic cooking area. Due to the very restricted visibility through the glass-ceramic cooking area, there is advantageously no display symbol of any kind visible for an operator in the switched-off state of the cooktop. The display area appears to a viewer essentially as a black area. Only the operating elements, for example, operating elements integrated in the cooktop frame, or a conventional printed operating-symbol inscription on the surface of the glass-ceramic panel are visible for an operator. Only, for example, after the cooktop is switched on, and, consequently, when corresponding selected illuminators are switched on, are the display elements visible. As a result, the action of switching on the cooktop is indicated better visually and, at the same time, a clear separation between display elements and operating elements is achieved. Furthermore, the configuration according to the invention permits no spatial discrepancy between the printed display-symbol inscription and the illuminator at a small viewing angle of an operator with respect to the horizontal.
To simplify and improve the display further, according to a preferred embodiment, no decorative printed inscription is provided on the surface of the glass-ceramic cooking area in a region above the illuminator.
The display-symbol mask is advantageously secured on the illuminator at a distance from the underside of the glass-ceramic cooking area. Because the underside of the glass-ceramic panel is highly profiled, attaching the mask directly on the underside would have the effect of impairing the quality of the display.
Other features that are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a cooktop with display elements, it is, nevertheless, not intended to be limited to the details shown since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.